Friday, November 18, 2011

Strawberry Crumb Topped Muffins

Little miss is in afternoon kindergarten. Which means that we have the whole morning every day. Which is great. We can do errands or be lazy... whatever the day calls for.

On those mornings when we don't have anywhere to be, we have the opportunity to make breakfast a little more fun. And there is a greater than 50% chance that, when asked what she wants to make for breakfast, that little miss will pick some kind of muffin. I actually have a few muffins in the queue to post here that we have made for breakfasts recently, but this one was too fun to wait on.

Little miss chose a recipe in my file called "Banana Streussel Muffins." The only problem with this selection was that she had just eaten the last banana the previous morning. And I hadn't been to the store to buy more yet. So what is a mom to do? Improvise. Grab the box of strawberries in the fridge and make the recipe our own.

While I washed and hulled the strawberries, little miss started working on the muffin batter. She measured the dry ingredients and whisked them together.

I then hit the strawberries with the immersion blender to make a puree.

Little miss then incorporated the strawberry puree into the other wet ingredients.

We then worked together to carefully incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful not to over mix. Then, as I spooned the batter into the sprayed muffin tin, little miss worked on mixing together our crumb topping.

A generous sprinkle of topping on each muffin, and we were ready to bake.

And the results of our experiment?

They looked and smelled delicious out of the oven.

So how did they taste?

Little miss loved them.

And in case you are curious, so did little man.

This was his first muffin. And his first taste of strawberry. I see many more baked goods in his future...

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the 1 1/2 cups flour baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat together the strawberry puree, sugar, egg, melted butter and vanilla.

Carefully add the strawberry mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and set aside while you prepare the crumb topping.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Incorporate the 1 tablespoon of butter by either cutting it in with knives, with a fork, or even with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the tops of the prepared, unbaked muffins.

Put the muffin tin in the oven and close the door. Lower the oven temperature to 350 and bake for 18-22 minutes, until they test done.